Komodo, the Living Dragon

This book is a very accurate account of the world's largest lizard, the Komodo dragon (actually a monitor lizard). A bizarre beast, the Komodo is unchanged as a species for millions of years, yet was not discovered until this century!

Komodo, The Living Dragon was first issued in 1991 and was the first popular book on the dragon since 1926. Selling well despite limited distribution, the overwhelming justification for this Revised Edition is that the first successful breeding of the dragon outside of its native Indonesia took place in the Washington, DC National Zoo in January 1992.

This historic event has been followed by several other successful hatchings and the rapid disbursement of the baby animals to other zoos throught the country. Whereas the Komodos existed in only two U.S. zoos in 1991, they now are in several zoos and will be in more. This fact increases the market demand.

The Revised Edition includes details of the successful breeding, as well as pictures (including one planned for the back cover) of the baby in the wild and in zoos. It has a comprehensive bibliography, a detailed index, and many photos. The first edition had only black and white photos, but the Revised Edition will have both color and better black and white pictures.

The book is scientifically accurate despite being a layman's book. It has been very well received by the herpetological community.